This YouMoz entry was submitted by one of our community members. The author’s views are entirely his or her own (excluding an unlikely case of hypnosis) and may not reflect the views of Moz.

I've hit the circuit hard this year, and I think I can differentiate SMX and SES.

No doubt, folks will get all up in arms that I'm short-changing one event or another. But, from my perspective, both events have compelling reasons to visit:

SES NY

Is a huge corporate-style trade show

Has a lot of folks trying hard to sell to each other

Gives you a great view of the competition

And may get you access to potential clients

SMX West

Is the best search marketing community event I've ever attended

Lets you rub elbows with lots of search luminaries

Was tons of fun

Or, as I Tweeted earlier today, SMX West has backpacks, SES NY has shoulder bags.

Personally, I'd go to both if you can afford it. If you can't, then I suggest you attend SMX West if you want to get 'in tune' with the search world and learn as much in the bar as you do in sessions. Attend SES for power networking and access to a lot of vendors/competitors/potential clients.

Let the flaming commence...

About wrttnwrd —
Ian Lurie is CEO at Portent, an internet marketing agency he started in 1995 on the honest belief that great marketing can save the world. At Portent, he leads and trains a team that covers SEO, PPC, social media and marketing strategy. Ian writes on the Portent Blog and speaks at various conferences, including MozCon, SMX, SES, Ad::Tech and Pubcon. He recently co-authored the 2nd Edition of the Web Marketing All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies.

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